William j



(No Model.)

W: J. FAIRPIELD. INHALER.

No. 412,881. Patented 00b. 15, 1889 w" v I)\ ATTORNEYS n. Pains Pmwmu mhm. Washinghm, n41

NlTED STATES PATENT Orrrcn.

\VILLIAM J. FAIRFIELD, OF DENVER, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR TO ELIZA J.

- HARDING, OF SAME PLACE.

lNHALER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 412,881, dated October15, 1889'. Application filed March 23, 1889. Serial No. 304,536. (Nomodel.)

T0 at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, TILLIAM J. FAIRFIELD, a citizen of the United Statesof America, residing at Denver, in the county of Arapahoe and State ofColorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Inhalers,of which the following is a specification, reference being had thereinto the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to a new and improved form of inhaler designed forthe administration of indicated medicinal remedies in the form of vapor;and its objects are to furnish a vaporizer, atomizer, and inhaler forsuch use of simple construction, cheap and eco nomical, efficient inoperation, and readily and safely used and controlled; to which ends itconsists in the features, constructions, and arrangements moreparticularly hereinafter described and claimed.

In practicing my invention I make use of a vessel for containing aliquid that may be heated to aid in the vaporization or volatilizationof the indicated remedy or remedies, such vessel being provided with acover fitting thereupon and having apertures permitting the access ofair from the exterior to the interior of the vessel. Such apertures maybe simply plain unguarded holes; or they may be incased and covered witha porous filtering material, itself adapted to hold or retain medicinalremedies, so that the air drawn therethrough may be impregnated withsuch remedies to a greater or less extent. Through such cover passes theinhalation-tube or an extension thereof, the same ending on the interiorof the vessel in an open-ended tube depending from the cover, and aroundwhich is sus pended or sustained the medicine-containing vessel orreceptacle, so as to be subject, when deemed necessary, to the influenceof the heated liquid contained in the main vessel. In use such medicinevessel or receptacle is also suspended from the cover, and suchsuspension may be by forming the inner end of the inhalation-tube andthe medicine-recon tacle relatively to each other, so that the latterslips upon and is held frictionally on the former, the 'end of theinhalation-tube being also so formed or arranged that air may passtherearound or therethrough over the surface or through the body of theremedies in the medicine-receptacle and take therefrom and convey to thelungs of the patient such portion or portions of the remedy or remediesas are volatilizable by the degree of heat applied. In the mouth-tube,or tube leading from the medicine-receptacle to the mouth of thepatient, may be placed or inserted an air forcing or pumpingdevice-similar, for instance, to the pumping-bulb of a Davidsonsyringe-so that air medicated and warmed by its passage through the mainvessel and the medicine-receptacle may be administered to children andothers so weak, infirm, or unskillful as to be unable themselves toinhale such air or vapor. The simple construction thus generally set outmay be better understood by reference to the drawings, wherein isillustrated an embodiment of the invention, and in which Figure 1 is avertical central section of such embodiment, and Fig. 2 a centrallongitudinal section of an air-forcing device which maybe usedtherewith.

In the drawings, the reference-numeral 1 indicates a vessel of anysuitable size and material, so constructed, however, that heat may beapplied thereto, or the contents thereof heated to any reasonabledegree. Such vessel, which may be termed the main vessel or body of theapparatus, is fitted with a cover 2, provided with one or moreperforations 3, forming inlets to the interior of the vessel for theexterior air. Seated in such cover is a part of the inhalation-tube,there being thereof a depending portion eupon. the interior of the coverand of such size that it may extend some distance down within the vessel1 when the cover 2 is in position there on, while a part extends to theexterior of the cover or from the top thereof as a nipple 8, on whichmaybe secured a tube 9 of any suitable material, although for ease ofuse a flexible rubber or other flexible tube is preferable therefor.

Surrounding the end 4 of the inhalation tube or pipe is the medicinevessel or receptacle 10, herein shown in full lines as gripping thesame, so as to be held thereon frictionally, although it may besuspended from the cover by any other meansas, for in stance, by thespring-catch 11 shown in dotted lines. This interiorly-depending endetof the inhalation-tube should be so formed that air may pass therearoundor therethrough into the medicine-vessel, to which end the extreme edgeof the vessel is shown as corrugated, as seen in full lines at 6, or thesame object may be accomplished by the apertures 7 shown in dottedlines.

To limit the upward movement of the medicine-vessel 10 upon the end I ofthe inhalingrube, stops or braces 5 may be used, though the same are nota vital or necessary part of the construction.

In practice the remedies indicated are placed in the vessel 10, which isthen secured around the depending end i of the inhalationtube. Then, ifthe nature of the remedy to be used indicates it, Water or other fluidheat absorbing and conveying medium is placed in the vessel 1 topartially surround the medicine-receptacle 10 and the necessary ordesired heat applied thereto. Suction being then applied by means of thetube 9, air is drawn into the vessel through the apertures 3, thence mthe corrugations 6 or the openings 7 into or over the medicine and,being there warmed and impregnated with the remedial elements of thematerial in the vessel or receptacle 10, it passes to the mouth andlungs of the user.

Instead of using'merely plain perforations 3 for the inlet of air to thevessel 1, one or a group of perforations having a surrounding case 12may be used, such incasement being filled with a porous absorbentmaterial, as cotton, which, when such course is indicated, may bemoistened with some remedial or chemical agent. Suppose, for example,that muriate of ammonia vapor be indicated. A

small amount of muriatio acid may be placed in the receptacle 10 and thecotton, sponge, or other material in the aperture-case 12 be moistenedor saturated with spirits of ammonia, so that ammoniaized air shall bedrawn over or through the muriatic acid.

hen deemed necessary from the condition of the patient, an air-forcingdevice, as the properly-valved bulb 13, may be used in connection withthe inhalation-tube, so that medicated vapor may be forciblyadministered to patients unable or unwilling to personally operate theinhaler.

This forms a very simple and reliable and easily-operated atomizer,vaporizer, and inhaler, in the use of which the only skill and carenecessary are those of the trained physician to correctly diagnose thedisease and indicate the proper remedies, the correct, efficient, andproper use and inhalation then being within the intelligence of personsp0ssessed of little or even of no technical or medical skill. N

Having thus described my invention, What I claim is An inhalerconsisting of a main vessel, a cover therefor having apertures for thepassage of air therethrough, and having a depending inhalation-tubesecured thereto, and a medicine-receptacle adapted to slide over and beheld by such inhalation-tube, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.v

\VILLIAM J. FAIRFIELD.

WVitnesses:

L. F. WILBER, CHAS. G. HARDING.

